A miss is as good as a mile
Meaning: Whether you fail narrowly or dramatically, the result remains identical—you've still missed the mark entirely.
Origin: William Camden's Remaines (1605) records the earlier form, "An inch in a miss is as good as an ell" — an ell being an old measure of cloth of about 45 inches. When the ell fell out of use, the similar-sounding mile took its place. A near miss is still a miss, whatever the distance.
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